NC0000272_Public Comments 4-29-2021_20220401

Clean
Water
for
North Carolina
1070 Tunnel Rd. Bldg. 4, Suite 1, Asheville 28805 [phone]
April 29, 2021
Mr. Daniel Smith,
Director, NC Division of Water Resources
1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617
Mr. Sergei Chernikov
Permit Engineer, NPDES Unit
NC Division of Water Resources
Ms. Anna Gurney
Public Information Officer, NC DEQ, Div. of Water Resources
Via Email: [e-mail] subject: CWFNC Comments Blue Ridge Paper
Clean Water for NC Comments on the Draft Permit NC0000272 for Blue Ridge Paper
Products dba Evergreen Packaging
Please accept these comments on behalf of Clean Water for North Carolina, a statewide,
science -based, Environmental Justice organization that has worked extensively for fair
and effective environmental enforcement, for safe and affordable water and for the
quality of life, health and economic well-being of downstream and downwind
communities.
Introduction
Again, we find ourselves in opposition to a draft permit for Blue Ridge Paper Products
as drafted by the NC Division of Water Resources, and again we oppose the proposed
removal of the Color Variance. The decades -long failure of the Division to take
responsibility for reducing the impacts of a massive pulp and paper mill on a tiny
mountain river, as required by the Clean Water Act, and a Settlement Agreement
signed by Champion (or successor in interest), USEPA, the NC Division of Water
Quality, and environmental organizations party to a contested case on the 1996 permit,
has resulted in preventable and unjust ongoing degradation of the Pigeon River for
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downstream users, and a failure to restore it to its full designated uses, despite decades
of efforts by advocates.
We recognize that significant progress was made by the "Canton modernization" in the
early 1990's and again following the Settlement Agreement and revised 1998 permit,
both resulting from strong public pressure for improvements. We stated that the 2001
NPDES permit fell far short of requiring Canton Mill performance improvements that
would fully restore the designated uses for the Pigeon River, and thus could not
provide the basis for removal of the long-standing color variance, contrary to
statements in the previous permit "fact sheet" and hearing officer's report.
In drafting that 2001 permit, the Canton Mill, now Blue Ridge Paper Products, and the
NC Division of Water Quality ignored much of the advice from both the EPA Tech
Team and independent mill expert, Dr. Norman Leibergott. The Division and BRPP
have not given cost-effective oxygen -based process changes judged feasible by both
expert parties a chance to achieve significant color and other pollutant reductions in
their discharge. As a result, despite oral promises in 2001 from BRPP, the EMC hearing
officer and DWQ that the Mill would go -"beyond compliance," this predictably has not
happened.
As the Division's fact sheet points out, international mill expert Dr. Norman Leibergott
had previously been jointly contracted by environmental groups (including Clean
Water for North Carolina) and Blue Ridge Paper for a 2001 study on chlorine -free
production, referred to as the BEPER. Dr. Leibergott had pointed out to us repeatedly
that, unless an NPDES permit called for substantial color or other pollutant reductions,
the process changes most likely to reduce chlorine chemical usage and color to the River
would not be implemented or would be installed or operated sub -optimally. Those
were his words, encouraging us to demand significantly lower final permit limits for
color. Any comments by Mill officials or Dr. Leibergott saying there are no known
technologies to further reduce color are simply given the lie by Dr. Leibergott's own
reports, and those of the EPA Tech Team.
Before the 2010 permit renewal process, a representative of Blue Ridge
Paper/Evergreen, in his contacts with various public officials, has included a single
page from the lengthy 2006 Leibergott report, as though it were a summary of the
report. This has deliberately misled and confused those who have received it, as it is
presented in justification of BRPP statements that "there's nothing more that can be
done" to clean up the Mill's effluent. This one page from the report completely failed to
mention the extensive recommendations in the same report by Dr. Leibergott for
reducing both chlorine -based chemical usage in various pulping and bleaching stages,
and color in the Mill's discharge.
The 2001 BEPER and 2006 Leibergott report and the August, 2007 EPA Tech Team
Memo all point to several remaining cost-effective process changes and best
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management practices that Blue Ridge Paper could reasonably expect to be collectively
amortized in less than 3 years, substituting oxygen -based chemicals for part or all of the
chlorine dioxide in a given pulping or bleaching stage. It is the failure of NC regulators
to honor the principles of the National Pollutant Discharge ELIMINATION System of
the Clean Water Act, and the Settlement Agreement in which all parties agreed that
more work was needed to attain "further reductions in color in the river at the quickest
possible pace." (paragraph 15,1997 Settlement Agreement) that have caused the stalled
out pollution reduction for two decades.
The Settlement to a contested case on the 2010 permit was in no way an expression of
the parties' satisfaction with the condition of the River, and the readiness to consider
removal of the remaining leverage to require cleanup of a massive discharge that
should not have been permitted on a small mountain river, but was "grandfathered in"
through continuing neglect, Based on our extensive study of the Canton Mill's
permitting history, fiberline processing, evaluations of process improvements and best
management practices for the Mill, as well as reports from users of the Pigeon River
downstream, we submit to NC DWQ and several parties the following comments on
Draft Permit NC0000272.
Color Special Condition and the EPA Tech Team report
The time is long past for studies and excuses. In the absence of clear and
enforceable DAILY limits for instream color in the River, no greater than the 50 color
unit interpretation from 30 years ago, and specifically prescribed process changes to
achieve them, it's no surprise that Blue Ridge Paper Products failed to make more than
trivial progress in reducing color (mostly reducing variability) to the Pigeon River
during another much -extended permit term. The 2001permit was unacceptably weak
and failed to require continuing progress on the River, or to provide support for
strategies that could readily and affordably have reduced color below 33,000 lb/day of
color annual average BEFORE the 2010 permit renewal. If that had been required, we
could have been at an even lower level before the 2020 permit was announced, and the
opportunity for full compliance with a standard of 50 color units at the Fiberville bridge
could have been attainable early in the coming permit term, making removal of the
variance actually justifiable.
Instead, during the previous permit term, DWQ (and more recently, DWR)
personnel have continued to delay permitting as a strategy to avoid public critique of
the lack of progress and continued to deny the availability of feasible processes for
continued reduction of pollutants in the Canton Mill's discharge. They have cherry
picked the results of Dr. Leibergott's more recent study in the fact sheet to point to the
Mill's high ranking in environmental performance, with no acknowledgement that such
an industrial ranking refers only to the percent removal of pollutants per ton of
production, and does not take into account the size of the impacted resource.
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1) We strongly support the continued involvement of the EPA Tech Team in Canton
Mill permitting for the indefinite future, until conditions in the Pigeon River have been
declared by all parties to be supporting the River's designated uses, and until there are
both enforceable and enforced standards to assure that the Canton Mill is not causing
impairments to North Carolina and Tennessee waters. This will necessarily include
implementation of a long term compliance schedule and daily enforceable numerical
standard corresponding to the 50 color units (not 50 plus upstream color) for narrative
standards, as well as continued oversight by state, regional and federal authorities
responsible for protecting downstream waters.
2) The annual average color limit at the start of the renewed permit must be 33,000
lb/day or less. The Canton Mill has now been allowed to operate for nearly 2 decades
with no significant decrease in color discharge, while the discharge levels could have
been reduced by 11, 5000 to 15,200 lb/day that the Tech Team had estimated in 2001 to
be achievable as a result of highest certainty and best management practices, along with
one or more reasonable certainty process changes. Thus, it is completely appropriate
that the Mill be expected to operate immediately with a limit of 33,000 lb/day annual
average. The initial monthly and daily limits, to allow moderate variability, but still
provide a stimulus to continued improvement, should be no greater than 50,000 lb/day
and 75,000 lb/day, respectively.
3) A variety of specific Tech Team recommendations for improved BMPs and at least
two process improvements can be implemented within the next three years to achieve
performance at or below 30,000 lb/day, with several cost effective options remaining
for subsequent permit periods.
In -Mill Process Improvements Recommended by the EPA Tech Team (Aug, 2007) and
BEPER (2001), All would have been implementable in the 2010-2013 Permit Term
" • Continue to improve the performance of BMPs to further substantially reduce and
ultimately eliminate discharges of highly -colored wastewaters directly to the
wastewater treatment system through further improvements (note — some of this has
been implemented, contributing to lowered variability due to reduced spills and leaks)
• On the pine bleaching line, implement the use of peroxide fortification of the Eo stage
and decrease the target kappa factor as recommended in BEPER 2001 and by Liebergott
/ GL&V 2006. Evaluate use of high temperature for the peroxide- fortified extraction.
• On the hardwood bleaching line, implement the use of oxygen and peroxide
fortification of the E stage and decrease the target kappa factor as recommended in
BEPER 2001, 2006. Evaluate use of high temperature for peroxide -fortified extraction.
• Complete an expedited and detailed evaluation of and install an additional oxygen
delignification (OD) stage for the pine pulping/bleaching line.
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• As chlorine dioxide use is reduced through second stage OD on the pine line and
other options on both fiber lines, further investigate increasing the amount of hardwood
filtrates recycled; investigate introducing some of these hardwood filtrates to the BFR..."
Color treatments and other measures to reduce BRPP effluent color discharges
" • Continue to evaluate the impact of the CRP purge on treated effluent color to
determine if CRP color is removed in secondary treatment, and avoid releasing the CRP
purge during periods of low stream flow;
• Continue to investigate and implement strategies for improving color removed by the
Canton Mill wastewater treatment plant: Further analyze color formation when acid
wastewater is mixed with mill wastewater in the current configuration, particularly in
the activated sludge aeration basin, and identify other techniques, such as minimizing
sulfide releases to the mill sewer from white and green liquor leaks, spills, and/or
diversions, to reduce this effect. Increase the performance for pretreating highly -
colored wastewaters prior to introducing them to the wastewater treatment system,
including further optimizing adding polymer and other pretreatment chemicals to the
highly -colored wastewater diverted to the extra primary clarifier and/or any additional
facilities that may be provided.
• Curtail pulp production during periods of low stream flow.
We disagree with the EPA Tech Team that production reductions should only be
viewed as a last resort for low flow contingency. The fact that the Mill's management of
spills and leaks during shutdowns and startups has been inadequate only mandates
that production levels be adjusted for longer periods seasonally or in low flows until
spill management can be improved. Because production levels have been allowed to
increase over time on this small River, reducing production is a remediation that should
be implemented now, providing a positive incentive for future production increases to
previous levels through achieving further documented, substantial in -plant reductions.
4) The EPA Tech Team called, over fourteen years ago (August, 2007), for a final annual
average discharge limit for the pending permit of 32,000 lb/day, a conservative level of
achievement for the process optimization, best management practices and one oxygen
based process change considered to be "highest certainty." In fact, we assert that final
compliance limit for this permit of under 30,000 lb/day would have been readily
achievable at pre-1999 production levels by the end of a shortened permit term if
several of the strategies recommended by the Tech Team and 2001 BEPER and 2006
Leibergott reports were implemented. It is critical that no more time be lost in
implementing those changes called for by the Tech Team, and that the final compliance
date for the conservative 30,000 lb/day annual average be no later than April 1 of 2023.
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Given the impact of increased production on BRPP's effluent, and the negligible
improvement in color loading, increases in production must be unconditionally
prohibited in the current permit and production levels must be publicly available. It is
also a reasonable public expectation that unannounced independent sampling, split
sampling and monitoring of parameters including color, whole effluent toxicity, BOD,
toxic compounds and spectrum of coliform bacteria released and in downstream
sediments be included in the permit to restore public trust following continued agency
resistance to further improvements in discharge quality from the Canton Mill.
As the Tech Team pointed out, even without use of a Bleached Filtrate Recycling
system, the Gladfelter mill has complied with permits requiring stricter color
performance on a production -normalized basis.
5) The EPA Tech Team Memo states:
"Daily maximum and maximum 30-day average permit limits would enhance the consistency of
day-to-day in -stream water quality, and would be consistent with limits for other parameters
controlled in the present BRPP permit (BODB5B, TSS, AOX, etc.)."
To make progress toward consistent protection of water quality, we call for more
rigorous daily and monthly limits, rather than considering it acceptable to risk only two
violations during a permit period that must be moving toward levels of color discharge.
To motivate further improvements, we contend that the mill must be at risk for more
operating days, consistent with prior evaluations that identified 95% performance
levels. Occasional color spikes are still reported as unacceptable many miles
downstream, so variability must be steadily decreased.
6) Until the Mill is achieving, on a daily basis, 50 true color units or lower instream at
the end of the discharge pipe, not at the end of a newly created "mixing zone," the
facility's discharge must continue to be judged out of compliance with NC's narrative
standard. As a long-term variance has been an insufficient tool to motivate either Blue
Ridge Paper or the Division of Water Quality to seek or even accept significant water
quality improvements, we call for a long term compliance schedule to continue forward
into the subsequent permit terms, with additional color reduction achievements as a
percentage of current color discharge. A continuing compliance schedule resembling
the model set by the Settlement Agreement and resulting rewritten 1998 permit, will be
a more predictable and productive approach than a vague variance, which must
nevertheless be kept in place until full restoration of the River is achieved. Such a
schedule will result in unambiguous expectations and a lessening of historic tensions
for future permit cycles and a steadily cleaner River.
7) As the NC Division of Water Quality has allowed excessive administrative extension
as one of its tools for reducing what it sees as the regulatory burden on the permittee,
there must be a specified date for issuance of the next draft permit in order to prevent
extended permit cycles and the associated lack of water quality improvement. We call
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for the pending renewal permit to include a final compliance and renewal date no later
than April 1, 2026, with no administrative extension and a final limit of under 30,000
lb/day annual average.
8) According to the Color Special Provision, the Mill is not permitted to increase
production unless it can, at the same time, reduce color releases. This has apparently
been seen as a loophole through which BRRP can increase production while achieving
almost no progress in water quality. As long as there is some trivial actual or apparent
reduction in color discharge, such as occurred in the current 8 year administratively
extended permit term, this would seem to allow for unspecified increased pulp
production at the Mill. In fact, it is reasonable to suppose that such an increase in
production could have accounted for the quite minimal improvement in color
performance over the last 8 years, even as some limited color reduction activities were
in fact carried out! Instead, the company must be required to report its daily production
levels publicly on a monthly basis, must roll back its production to the pre-1999 level
and not be allowed to increase pulp production until such time as it is able to comply,
on a daily basis, with an instream standard for color at least as strict as the 50 color unit
standard interpretation of EPA from 33 years ago.
9) A Low Flow Contingency Plan must be an integral part of the permit's Color Special
Provision, subject to public review, rather than just filed with the Division of Water
Quality. The plan must have specific flow triggers for implementation of additional
color reduction methods, and must be a fully enforceable part of the permit. The Plan
must include the full range of strategies for color reduction to assure compliance with a
50 color unit instream standard, including scheduled outages and curtailment of
production.
10). The NC Division of Water Quality must implement a numerical color standard
applicable to colored discharges throughout the state. Starting with the 2002 Triennial
Review, Clean Water for North Carolina has advocated for implementation of a simple,
colorometric method, using the wavelength of maximum absorbance of a given colored
discharge, and regulating by limiting the % increase of optical density as measured at
that wavelength for any given discharger to add to a water body, as compared to
upstream color measured at the same wavelength.
CWFNC has offered to provide color spectra (which we have previously provided
under Triennial Review) for example color discharges. Such a method is simple and
inexpensive to implement and can be applied even-handedly to a discharge of any
color, yet the Division has previously stated that it would be too difficult to implement
and would need to be individualized for each location. These excuses make no sense,
except to prevent any effective regulation of color added to public waters by permitted
facilities.
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In any case, NC must implement a standard for receiving waters immediately below a
pulp and paper discharge that is no less stringent that the 50 color unit instream
standard which was the US EPA's interpretation of NC's narrative color standard.
Further, the method we propose would include spectrophotometric analysis of waters
downstream of Waterville Lake, as we believe that reducing chemistry may be actually
re -generating color or shifting its color spectrum.
In addition, CWFNC calls for use of an "apparent color" measurement relative to
upstream apparent color, as scattering due to particulates can be a significant
contributor to color and opacity of the River. As a paddler who canoed downstream of
the whitewater Pigeon River section near Hartford TN, not long ago, I had to cut short a
canoeing trip due to the low visibility of obstacles in the stream caused by dark color
and particulates in the water column. This occurred in clear weather conditions, and
was not the result of rain or sedimentation events, but simply due to color and
particulates coming through the powerhouse turbines.
Temperature Impact and Variance
Clean Water for North Carolina is grateful for the objection of the USEPA to the
proposed continuance in the 2010 permit term of the previous thermal variance,
reducing the average temperature difference from up and downstream waters from 13.9
degrees C to 8.5 degrees C, nearly as much as we had called for in our comments on the
2010 draft permit. We agree with the continuance of the adjusted thermal variance, but
call for DAILY monitoring and enforcement, rather than enforcement based on
averages. Benthic impairments observed by DWQ and the Western NC Stream
Monitoring Information Exchange team and even biological anomalies observed in the
2014 study performed by University of TN cannot be dismissed as only due to other
impacts.
We also call for the permit to implement a daily discharge temperature limit less than
10 degrees C above intake temperature, to prevent thermal shock and loss of dissolved
oxygen, especially in elevated ambient temperatures or drought conditions. This
provides a further argument, beyond color impact, to reduce production levels and thus
the volume of hot discharge during low flow conditions.
Biological and Chemical Waste Assimilation
BOD—while BOD removal per ton is high for this mill, this limit is still marginal to
ensure sufficient oxygen, even in the flowing River, and probably contributes to
chemically reducing conditions in Waterville Lake that may be intensifying color with a
different spectrum downstream of the power plant. BOD limits must be sequentially
lowered with each permit until oxygen levels are protected even at low flows.
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We believe that some of the colored compounds that may have been in an oxidized
form in the Canton Mill's discharge may be experiencing chemically reducing
conditions in Walters (Waterville) Lake and may be discharged at higher color levels or
with a shifted visible spectrum, and perhaps with altered characteristics including
chemical irritants, increased odor or foam, as compared to conditions when the river
containing BRPP wastewater flows into the Lake at Hepco. These characteristics must
be studied as part of a full ecological assessment of the River and Walters (Waterville)
Lake which USEPA had committed in the 1998 Settlement Agreement to convene,
including a full sediment sampling effort with analysis for all known chemicals used
and produced at the Canton Mill.
The failure to fully monitor, limit and assess the impacts of Biological and Chemical
Oxygen Demand may be reflected in some of the chemistry taking place in the
reservoir, both in the water column and in the Lake sediments. We call for color, BOD,
COD and turbidity measurements of influent water to the Lake and effluent discharged
directly from powerhouse turbines, as well as detailed studies on the chemical changes
in the Lke that may be affecting color, odor, foam and other observed water quality
problems below the Progress Energy powerhouse and into Tennessee's impaired reach
of the River, and in major drinking water and recreational reservoirs further
downstream.
AOX and Chloroform
The previous permit allowed for increased release of adsorbable organic halides, noting
that the limits had been recalculated as per current production levels. This was a clear
indication that the Mill's production has been allowed to increase, at the same time that
the long term goal of the Settlement Agreement was to reduce color and other
pollutants discharged to the Pigeon. The current permit proposes an increased limit for
chloroform, also claiming that it is justified based on current production levels. These
toxic compounds include known or suspect carcinogens, and we continue to object to
any increased discharge of chloroform or AOX or other toxics, or any increased pulp
production over pre-1999 to enable the restoration of the Pigeon River.
We call for AOX and chloroform limits to be reduced at least 15% each permit cycle,
along with all TRI chemicals that are carcinogens or released at a rate of 1,000 pounds
per year, and for all such chemicals to be sampled daily in the effluent and explicitly
limited in the permit.
Other Monitoring Requirements, Frequency and Limits
Fecal coliform was the parameter for which the Mill's discharge was most frequently in
violation. While we know this is due to the mill's wastewater system treating
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wastewater for the town of Canton, rather than pulping and bleaching wastewaters, this
indicates that the treatment train is not optimized for removal of bacterial pathogens
and should be evaluated and process improvements required to prevent future
violations.
Turbidity must be explicitly included as a daily monitoring parameter and limited to
the NC water quality standard in the discharge, as we believe there are times that
turbidity levels may exceed the standard. Further, turbidity levels downstream of the
Walters powerhouse may be significant, and monitoring for apparent color and
turbidity must be included in the permit.
Dioxins and Furans, Fish Tissue Sampling, Full Ecological Assessment
The draft permit apparently changes the effluent limit, monitoring frequency, and
locations at which the full range of dioxin and furan congeners is to sampled and
analyzed. No increase in the limit for dioxins must be allowed from requirements of the
2001 permit, nor any decrease in monitoring frequency or locations.
Annual fish tissue sampling for dioxins and furans must continue for the foreseeable
future, as use of chlorine -based chemicals continues at the Canton Mill, and dioxins and
furans have been deposited in unknown but potentially high concentrations in
sediments in Waterville Lake for many decades. In addition, a selection of organic and
metal toxins in BRPP's discharge, including acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, catechol,
manganese, lead, vanadium and zinc must be added to the tissue analysis for at least
three years. Until a full ecological assessment is carried out, as required by Paragraph
33 of the Settlement Agreement on the 1996 permit, it must be assumed that these
persistent toxins can be remobilized with a severe storm event, draining of Waterville
Lake or other disturbance of sediments.
Fish palatability, Odor, Irritants in Water in Relation to Color
Clean Water for North Carolina strongly disagrees with the statement included under
"Rationale for Removal of Color Variance" with the statement that "fish palatability is
not a parameter associated with palatability of fish." First anyone who has spent
significant time in, on or close to the Pigeon River downstream of the Canton Mill will
know that the level of color in the river is, in fact, strongly associated with the extent of
odor, bad taste of the water, as well as irritants from the Mill's discharge. Using the
word "associated" even in a strictly statistical meaning, is entirely appropriate. NC
regulators should long ago have evaluated fish palatability as part of NC's narrative
standard, but have simply failed to do so, and they have deflected all comments from
raft guides and downstream users that the perceived color in the water does indeed
serve as an indicator of other adverse characteristics of the water, even over 40 miles
downstream of the Mill.
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Implications of Unfulfilled Provisions of the Settlement Agreement on 1996 Permit
A summary of key provisions of the Settlement Agreement on the 1996 permit that have
not been fulfilled follows.
Paragraph #15: Makes it clear that the provisions in the SA and the resulting permit and
variance were only a "major step" toward the restoration of the River, but that more
work was to be done "at the quickest possible pace." The data for discharged color
since 1997, coupled with the failure to require implementation of several feasible
process change and BMPs in the 2001 permit demonstrate a clear abandonment of the
approach that lead to significant progress under the "near term package" compliance
schedule.
Paragraph #18: The Technical Review Workgroup was given the responsibility to make
recommendations for improvements in the variance during NC's Triennial Review of
Water Quality Standards every three years. The TRW has reviewed the variance only in
the context of permit renewals up to 2010, and efforts by advocacy groups to call for
consideration by DWR or the NC Environmental Management Commission during
Triennial Reviews have sometimes been rebuffed.
Paragraph #25 All parties agree to an approach of stepwise moving the compliance
point for a 50 color unit instream standard back up the River toward the discharge. This
approach would be a reasonable one, with a staged compliance leading to a 50 color
unit limit in the discharge itself. At the rate that progress has occurred in the past 10+
year permit cycle, achieving this goal could take another lifetime.
Paragraph # 26 Requires a low flow contingency plan that would mandate a change in
Mill operations in the case of low River flows, including the curtailment of production.
NC Division of Water Quality has not drafted or required a credible and enforceable
contingency plan as part of the permit subject to public review.
Paragraph #27 NC committed to take the lead in reviewing and recommending further
process changes to improve water quality. On the contrary, NC has consistently resisted
expectations of progress and ignored feasible approaches to reducing pollution
discharged to the Pigeon River.
Paragraph # 29 Champion (or successor in interest) committed to not increasing
production until color can be reduced at the same time. CWFNC believes that NC has
viewed this provision as a loophole allowing only trivial reduction in color (or, as in the
current draft permit, only "apparent" reduction, with no actual improvement in
performance) to allow an unspecified increase in production. The fact that AOX levels,
calculated from the production level as per the Cluster Rules, were allowed an
increased limit and similarly chloroform in the current draft permit, indicates that
production has been allowed to increase. The Canton Mill must be required to return to
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pre-1999 production levels for pulping and bleaching and report daily production on a
monthly basis to DWQ, TN and EPA, until all parties agree that the River is fully
restored. No increases in production can be considered until that time. It is widely
acknowledged that such a huge mill should never have been constructed on a small
mountain stream. To allow for increases in production without significant further
implementation of oxygen based process changes and further closure of the water loop
is inimical to protection of the resource.
Paragraph #32 Both Champion (or successor in interest) and EPA were to undertake
various efforts to support the economy of downstream communities impacted by many
years of pollution. No significant effort has been made to implement substantive
supportive actions.
Paragraph #33 Ecological Assessment of River and Waterville Reservoir. EPA was to
take the lead on this. While various studies have been done by BRPP and TN, no
comprehensive assessment has been undertaken, especially on toxic sediments in
Waterville Lake.
Paragraph #34 called for a specified deadline for issuance of the next permit after the
revised 1998 permit was finalized. As the settlement had taken a year of the permit
period that started in 1996, the next five year permit was still to be issued in 2001, by a
specific date. We did not have a similar enforceable deadline for the end of the 2001
permit, so North Carolina was able to "administratively extend" the permit until 2010,
further lengthening the period in which no improvements were required. While
Settlement negotiations and EPA objections did delay full implementation of the 2010
permit for a few years, it has been 7 years since the Settlement Agreement on the
previous permit. As a result, the current permit must require a final compliance
deadline within 4 years, to make up for lost time, but no later than April 1, 2024, and
should specifically prevent such administrative extensions for all future permit
renewals to achieve a consistent 5 year renewal cycle with no delays, as required by the
Clean Water Act.
Restoration of the Pigeon River
Residents downstream of the Canton Mill have been deprived of a treatable drinking
water source, a safe and palatable fishery, an attractive clean river for recreation, free of
foam, odor and color. As the Mill was in full operation long before passage of the Clean
Water Act, agencies have failed to hold this long standing polluting discharge
accountable for the full scope of degradation it has caused to habitat and downstream
uses.
Apparently, to advocates for weak regulation of Blue Ridge Paper products, it's as if the
River is at fault for being too small, as if the River was created for the 113 year old Mill's
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use, and appropriate that people who depend on a clean river downstream should
simply be grateful that a small fraction of the billions of dollars in profits from
operations over a century have finally been used to partly clean a River that should be a
safe and magnificent resource for all. A commitment to fully restore the Pigeon River
through an accountable and sustained regulatory effort would provide a national
symbol of a re -invigorated Clean Water Act.
Yours truly,
Hope C. Taylor, MSPH
Executive Director Emerita
Clean Water for North Carolina
Cc
Central EPA
Michael S. Regan, EPA Administrator
Radhika Fox Principle Deputy Admin. Office of Water 202-564-5700
EPA Region 4
Region 4 Administrator
Region 4, Director of Water Protection Division
Tennessee Agency
David Salyers, PE, Commissioner, TN Dept. of Environmental Conservation
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